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09/02/2010

We all know that tap water isn't the healthiest for you to consume without filtration. But if you refuse to drink it, why would you bathe or shower in it?

Your skin is the largest organ on your body. Everything you put on your skin is absorbed into your body. Including the water you shower in.

With this website you can check what chemicals are in your water WEBSITE

The site I linked directs you to the Los Angeles, California's water chemical levels. If you are not in LA's district, simply put your zip code on the top of the page and you can enter your water company.

If you notice, the levels in our water is: over healthy guidelines, over legal limit or have been detected.

What's so bad?

Did you know that you can absorb twice as much harmful chemicals through your skin and by the steam of your shower than by drinking water? We are exposing our self to Chlorine, and hydrogen sulfide; Biologicals such as Virus', Bacteria and toxoplasma; Dissolved Minerals like fluoride Article, lead and mercury.

I found this interesting:

Breast cancer now effects 1 in every 8 woman in North America and has recently been linked to the accumulation of chlorine compounds in the breast tissue. A study carried out in Hartford Connecticut, found that, "women with breast cancer have 50% to 60% higher levels of organochiorines (chlorination byproducts) in their breast tissue than woman without breast cancer." Article

Chlorine actually strips our natural oils from our skin and hair. Here are a couple shower filters that seem to get the best reviews:

VitaShower SF-1 Works great for removing chlorine and chloramines. It says it removes 99% of the chlorine in both hot and cold water and Vitamin C filters last about twice as long as KDF filters.

Using a shower filter, your skin with be softer, hair less brittle, eyes less blood shot and lower your chances of absorbing any harmfull chemicals into your body such as chlorine. Im not a shower expert but I do know using a filter on all your water sources will help you live a healthier life! xxx <3 A&L

09/01/2010

What if I told you some of the water brands you purchase in a bottle is the exact same thing you can drink out of your faucet? Well, it's true!

One example is the label with the lake and mountains on the bottle. I read that the "spring water" actually comes from a well in the industrial facility's parking lot, near a hazardous waste dump, and at times is contaminated with industrial chemicals which goes above the FDA standards. Article

EWG (Environmental Working Group) tested water brands from some of
the major water distributors such as Walmart's Sam's Choice and other
Giant Supermarket's Acadia brands.The EWG didn't find any differences between
regular tap water and the bottle water. But what they did find was 38 chemical pollutants altogether with the average of 8 compounds in each bottled water.

It states that Sam's Choice and Acadia brands showed levels of
contamination above the California legal limits as well as the industry
sponsored voluntary safety standards. Article

Must check out this link.

Link This is the Environmental, Health and Safety site that has a summary of test results on bottled water contaminates found in bottled water. The graph was too large to fit on my blog.

Some of the water companies hasn't complied and conducted certain test on their product! All the major brands that California consumes on the regular basis had traces of numerous amounts of different contaminants. Since most are under the law's allowed amounts, no changes will be made to the waters quality.

Please keep in mind that most bottle water companies use tap water. There are more restrictions on tap water than bottle water. So why would the bottle water companies spend the extra costs to process through other water sources when the city has already done that for them?

Taste difference

Lets see how the tap water vs bottle water taste test went:

Types of water

Artesian Water/ Artesian Well Water: Underground layer of water bared with rock and sand.

Drinking Water: Made for human consumption. Flavors and extracts can be added but must be less than one percent of weight of the final product for it not to be considered a soft drink.

Mineral Water: No minerals can be added, contains less than 250 parts per million total dissolved solids and is known for it's constant level of mineral and trace elements from the water source.

Purified Water: Distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis and other methods that keep the water up to the standards of the USP (United States Pharmacopoeia)

Distilled Water: Same as Purified Water. If it's produced by distillation, deionized water or reverse osmosis water or any other process it's known as purified water, distilled water or "any name" plus drinking water.

Spring Water: Water from an underground formation and flows naturally to the surface of the earth.

Well Water: Bottled water from a hole bored, drilled or constructed in the ground which taps into the water of a aquifer.

Figure out your costs

Do your self a favor, figure out how much money you spend on bottle water per month and then per year. With that total, find a water filter for your house that will specifically filter out fluoride Article, other hard metals, toxic minerals, chlorine and possibly even alkalize your water. Not only will you save money in the long run, you will help the environment by not contributing to the plastic bottle wastage that's floating around in the pacific ocean which is the size of Texas and growing.

I would rather know where my water is coming from, rather than trust bottle water companies that's only interest is to make money. Wouldn't you? Any questions feel free to ask. xxx <3 A&L

08/31/2010

When I was a child, my doctors said my sister and I were not getting enough fluoride from the water we are drinking. Like every doctor does best, he prescribed medication. My sister and I were prescribed a fluoride pills to take every night before we went to bed. Not only were we getting fluoride from the tap water, the food we were eating, the toothpaste that we put on our teeth every morning and night, but now they had us taking fluoride in a pill form.

April 7, 1997, the FDA decided it was wise to post warnings on all fluoride toothpaste sold in the U.S. stating: Article

WARNING: Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional help or contact a poison control center immediately.

For those of you not understanding the reasoning behind the warning. A potentially fatal dose of fluoride is consuming 5 mg per 2.20 pounds of body-weight. If I consume 300 mg of fluoride I can be poisoned.

Do you realize what a small amount 300 mg really is? A 7-ounce tube of toothpaste contains about 199mg of fluoride, but you need to consider what you are in taking through food, water and medication on top of brushing your teeth twice a day. Here's a pill form size to show you how much 300mg can look like:

300 mg would put me in the hospital. So just imagine what small doses of this will do to someone on a daily basis:

Weakening of bones

Kidney problems with exceeding 12mg/day

Liver damage (little research has been done on this)

Chromosomal damage and interference with DNA repair

Lowering IQ

Thyroid dysfunction

Aluminum in your brain

Urinary excretion of aluminum

Lower levels of iodine

Links to heart disease

Arthritis

Early menstruation with girls

tooth decay

yellow, white spots or browning of your teeth

acceleration of the aging process

7000 employees of the Environmental Protection Industry (EPI) petitioned to remove the fluoride out of our water supply. Of course, the media didn't get the word out because of the control put on the media. (not getting into that topic at this moment)

What you can do

Do not purchase any toothpaste with fluoride! You can go to health stores and buy fluoride free toothpaste.

Do not drink any tap water! Purchase an Activated Alumina De-fluoridation Filter. They generally run from $30 up. They are pricey but your medical bills will cost you more.

Distillation filtration is commercially available and can be purchased to remove fluoride from your water. Please know that just because you are buying distilled water is doesn't imply that you are drinking water that is fluoride free.

Don't think your Brita, Pur, and other filters are removing the fluoride out of your water. Make sure your filter says it specifically removes fluoride out of your water!

Boiling water will actually make the fluoride more concentrated rather than reduce it. So get that out of your head.

Freezing your water doesn't have any effect on the fluoride.

Don't take fluoride supplements.

Read labels on the bottled drinks you are consuming. Make sure they are from reverse-osmosis water. If not they are most likely fluoridated.

Black and Red tea naturally contain high amounts of fluorine.

Be aware of canned food items. Companies sometimes use fluoride as a preservative

I was an extremely sick kid growing up. I have no doubt the fluoride I was consuming was partaking in my illnesses. I believe keeping your children away from any fluoride will keep their grades up, their alertness steady and help keep their immune systems up. I believe the government will do everything in their power to dumb down our children and keep us from living a healthy life. Now, where's the profit in living a healthy life? Article Any questions? Feel free to ask xxx <3 A&L

08/30/2010

I'm definitely guilty of making my home smell of milk chocolate for our dinner guests, jasmine for our over night guests and even vanilla Glade Plug-ins next to my cat Houdini's litter box. But what am I really giving my guest and beloved animals in return for a wonderfully smelling home?

I was curious about ingredients on my air freshener. Glade Plug-Ins says "Amorphous Fumed Silica, Fragrance." Regulatory information:"All ingredients in this product are listed or excluded on the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory."

Interesting... This scares me "All ingredients in this product are listed or EXCLUDED on the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory."

What could they possibly be excluding? And what is in the "Fragrance" to make it a fragrance?

Are you not concerned about what you are breathing in everyday?

When looking into Fragrances, I found that a civil and environmental engineering professor Steinemann, at the University of Washington did some tests on some plug-in air fresheners! And guess what? Of course... Steinemann found VERY HIGH levels of volatile organic compounds. Article Which is called VOC. I've never heard of VOC's before. So I goggled it. The first thing that pops up was our friends the "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency". Article

Please don't think this is just about Plug-in's, here's the other products people use daily in their homes:

Air fresheners

Annonia

Antibacterial cleaners

Bleach

Carpet and upholstery shampoo

Chlorine

Dishwasher detergents

Furniture polish

Laundry room products

Oven cleaner

Toilet bowl cleaners

According to the National Research Council, "no toxic information is available for more than 80% of the chemicals in everyday-use products. Less than 20% have been tested for acute effects and less than 10% have been tested for chronic, reproductive or mutagenic effects."

VOC's aren't the only chemical that's dangerous in your air fresheners. Check out the chemical called phthalates (pronounced thal-ates) Article Studies shows that it changes hormone levels and causes birth defects and significant adverse effects on physical growth and pubertal maturity. Also there may be a link between obesity and endocrine disruption as well as metabolic interference.

Wow! Maybe this is the cause of Houdini's health problems? And what about your child? Your baby is breathing in this toxic chemical if you use any type of air fresheners. Yes, candles included! Article

Be advised that the FDA doesn't have any regulations on the use of phthalates. They do not require the labeling on the products because they don't consider the quantity to which people are exposed to be harmful. Despite what the studies show with the cancer causing, infant abnormalities or fertility affects it has on people.

But what the hell, it smells great doesn't?!

Well, the real purpose of air fresheners is actually to deaden the nerve that interferes with our sense of smell. It coats our nasal passage with a oily film and masks the "not wanted odor" with a "more desirable odor" or deactivates the masked scent.

Then what???

If you are now like me and will never burn another candle or plug-ins anything! Try another alternative:

Put any of this on a pan with water: Cinnamon, orange, citrus peels, vanilla extract or any other spices on the stove.

Dry herbs and flowers and place in a bowl in different rooms

Baking soda will absorb odors in enclosed spaces. Get a open container and place in enclosed area.

Open a window and get some clean air. Place a fan at your window or at a open door to blow some fresh air in the house.

Don't think if you get unscented or fragrance-free it doesn't mean there isn't any "fragrance" in the product. Steinemann said "an unscented of fragrance-free product may be a fragranced product, with the addition of masking fragrance."

The same chemicals were found in products labeled organic, natural, green or all-natural.

Instead of taking the quick fix and purchasing the cancer, headaches, nose and throat problems, take the extra step and make your own aroma. Not only will this save you money, it will insure that you find a fragrance that works for you.